Pursuant to the March 20, 1996 Law on the State Budget and the Government�s Decree No.87/CP of December 19, 1996 detailing the assignment of responsibilities for managing, drafting, implementing and settling the State budget;

Pursuant to the May 20, 1998 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on the State Budget and the Government�s Decree No.51/1998/ND-CP of July 18, 1998 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government�s Decree No.87/CP of December 19, 1996 detailing the assignment of responsibilities for managing, drafting, implementing and settling the State budget;

The Finance Ministry hereby guides the refund of revenue amounts already remitted into the State budget, as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Enterprises, organizations and individuals (hereinafter referred collectively to as units) shall be refunded the revenue amounts they have already remitted into the State budget (Account 741) by the finance agency when they fully meet the following conditions:

1.1. Revenue amounts have been inspected and considered by the tax agencies, customs agencies of the provinces or centrally-run cities and the State agencies authorized to collect (hereinafter referred collectively to as the collecting agencies) and there are refund decisions and written refund requests sent to the finance agencies.

1.2. Revenue amounts have been actually remitted by the units (or by the collecting agencies on the units� behalf) into the State budget.

1.3. The refund of revenue amounts cannot be effected in form of clearing against the units� remittable revenue amounts arising in the following period or despite the fact that the clearing has already been made, there still exist remainder to be refunded from the State budget.

2. Revenue amounts already accounted into the budgetary fund of a certain level shall be considered for being refunded by the finance agency of such level. Revenue amounts divided among budgets of various levels shall be considered for being refunded by the finance agency of the highest level, which shall later notify such to the lower-level finance agencies for implementation.

3. The refund of value added tax (including mispaid and overpaid value added tax amounts) shall be effected by the fund for value added tax refund defined in Part D of the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.122/2000/TT-BTC of December 29, 2000 guiding the implementation of the Government�s Decree No.79/2000/ND-CP of December 29, 2000 detailing the implementation of the Value Added Tax Law.

4. The refund of enterprise income tax due to the re-investment according to the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam shall be effected according to the provisions in Section 6, Point II, Part Two of the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.13/2001/TT-BTC of March 8, 2001 guiding the implementation of regulations on taxes applicable to the investment forms under the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam.

5. The refund of export petrol and oil charges to units shall be effected according to the provisions of the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.63/2001/TT-BTC of August 9, 2001 amending and supplementing its Circular No.06/2001/TT-BTC of January 17, 2001 guiding the implementation of the Government�s Decree No.78/2000/ND-CP of December 26, 2000 on petrol and oil charges.

6. For units which have made their budget remittances in foreign currencies: The refunded amounts shall be converted into Vietnam dong at the average exchange rates on the inter-bank market announced by Vietnam State Bank at the time of refunding by the finance agency.

7. The relevant agencies and responsible units shall account and settle the State budget revenue amounts already refunded to units according to the prescribed regime.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. A refund-requesting dossier comprises:

1.1. Refund decision (the original made according to the currently set form) of the collecting agency defined in Item 1.1, Point 1, Part I of this Circular.

1.2. Written refund request (the original) sent by the collecting agency to the finance agency (made according to the set form).

1.3. The State Treasury�s written certification (the original) of the refundable money amount actually remitted into the State budget (made according to the set form). Particularly for units engaged in export and/or import activities, the State Treasury�s written certification may be superseded by the State budget remittance bills made according to the form of the State budget remittance bills prescribed in the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.12/1999/TT-BTC of February 1, 1999 guiding the amendments and supplements to a number of points in its Circular No.41/1998/TT-BTC of March 31, 1998 on the concentrated management of the State budget revenues through the State Treasury (the original or copy certified by the State Treasury). In cases where a collecting agency makes the remittance on behalf of many units with the same remittance bill, it shall have to enclose the list of names of remitting units with such remittance bill. The State Treasury�s certification content on the copies of remittance bills must clearly state the amounts to be refunded to the units named in such remittance bills and having already been remitted into the State budget (with the signature of the State Treasury�s director, who shall also write his/her full name and affix seal).

2. Refunding procedures:

2.1. The collecting agency shall have to issue refund decisions and make refund dossiers according to the provisions at Point 1, Part II of this Circular, then send them to the finance agency for effecting the refund. Dossiers shall be sent to the finance agency of the level to which budget revenues have been remitted. For revenues divided among many budgetary levels, dossiers shall be sent to the finance agency of the highest level.

- For the refund of enterprise income tax due to the re-investment under the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam, after the Finance Minister issues refund decisions, the General Tax Department shall send tax refund decisions (the originals) to the State Budget Department for effecting the tax refund to the concerned units.

- For the refund of petrol and oil charges, after the Finance Minister issues decisions on petrol and oil charge refund, the General Tax Department shall send such decisions (the originals) enclosed with the complete dossiers prescribed in the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.63/2001/TT-BTC of August 9, 2001 and written requests for petrol and oil charge refund (made according to the set form) to the Finance Ministry for effecting the refund of charges to the concerned units.

2.2. The finance agency shall, after receiving the refund requesting dossiers from the collecting agency, verify such dossiers and promptly effect the refund to the requesting units. More concretely:

- If the dossiers are incomplete as prescribed at Point 1, Part II of this Circular, it shall, within 3 working days, have to request in writing the refund requesting units to complete the dossiers as prescribed;

- If the dossiers are complete as prescribed at Point 1, Part II of this Circular, it shall, within 7 working days, have to effect the refund to the requesting units according to the provisions in Item 4.2, Point 4, Part IV of the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.103/1999/TT-BTC of July 18, 1999 and transfer the dossiers to the State Treasury of the same level for effecting the refund to the units, and at the same time notify in writing the collecting agency thereof (according to the set form).

- For revenue amounts divided among the budgetary levels, the finance agency of the highest level shall verify dossiers and effect the refund of revenue proportion already divided to its budgetary level, and at the same time send an official dispatch to the lower-level finance agency. The lower-level finance agency, upon receiving the higher-level finance agency�s official dispatch, shall effect the refund of revenue proportion divided to its budgetary level to the requesting units.

2.3. The State Treasury shall, upon receiving refund vouchers (return orders or expense orders) from the finance agency of the same level, conduct the examination and control thereof and carry out the procedures for prompt payment to the requesting units:

- If vouchers are incomplete and/or invalid according to the current prescribed regimes, it shall, within 2 working days, return them to the finance agency of the same level and notify the latter of reason(s) for payment refusal.

- If vouchers are complete and made according to the current prescribed regimes, it shall carry out the procedures for prompt payment to the requesting units, concretely:

+ For amounts refunded under the State budget-spending orders, the State Treasury of the same level shall, within 2 working days, have to transfer the refunded amounts directly to the refunded units� accounts and account budget expenses of the current year according to Chapter 160 (A, B, C, D), Category 10, Section 10, Item 132 and corresponding Sub-items.

+ For amounts refunded under the State budget return orders, the State Treasury of the same level shall, within 2 working days, have to hand the State budget return orders to the State Treasury office where the units (or the collecting agency having remitted such amounts on the units� behalf) have remitted such amounts into the State budget.

The State Treasury office where the units (or the collecting agency having remitted such amounts on the units� behalf) have remitted such amounts into the State budget shall, within 2 working days after receiving the return orders of the finance agency handed by the State Treasury of the higher level, have to transfer the refunded amounts directly to the units� accounts and account the decrease of budget revenues of the current year according to the Chapter, Category, Section, Item and Sub-Item of revenues having already arisen.

3. The clearing between revenue amounts refunded from the State budget and the units� revenue amounts remittable into the State budget in the following period is prescribed as follows:

- The collecting agency shall effect the clearing between revenue amounts of the same nature. Particularly, the customs office shall, apart from effecting the clearing between revenue amounts of the same nature, effect the clearing among collected amounts of export tax, import tax and special consumption tax on import goods.

- For units engaged in export and import activities, the customs office shall effect the clearing upon each goods shipment.

- For units engaged in production, business and service activities at home, the collecting agency shall effect the clearing upon each tax period (month, quarter or year...).

4. In cases where the refunded units still owe the State budget (for revenue amounts not of the same nature), the written requests sent by the collecting agency to the finance agency must clearly and specifically state the money amounts still owed to the State budget and detailed contents of amounts to be refunded by the State budget. The finance agency shall consider and effect the refund of refundable amounts to the units, and at the same time remit the remittable amounts to the State budget.

5. For dissolved or bankrupt units or units with their business places relocated to other localities, which have no remittable revenue amounts arising in the following period, the refund requires the written requests sent by the collecting agency to the finance agency regarding the overpaid revenue amounts and those remaining to be remitted into the State budget, as well as amounts left after the clearing is made by the collecting agency and to be refunded from the State budget to the units.

6. For non-commercial export and import goods at the border-gates (such as: luggage, postal parcels and items...), in case of refund in cash to individuals who have no accounts at banks or the State Treasury, the border-gate customs shall effect the direct refund to such individuals from cash sources collected thereat and having not yet to be remitted into the State budget according to the prescribed regime. The customs offices shall be responsible for effecting such refund and send periodical reports to the competent authorities as prescribed.

7. In cases where the objects eligible for cash refund are individuals having no accounts at banks or the State Treasury (except for export and import non-commercial goods at border-gates), the written refund requests sent by the collecting agency to the finance agency must clearly state the full names; permanent residence addresses; serial numbers, dates and places of issuing the refunded individuals� identity cards. After obtaining the finance agency�s consent, the State Treasury shall effect the direct payment to the refunded objects according to the regulations on cash management.

III. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular replaces the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.25/2000/TT-BTC of March 30, 2000 and takes effect 15 days after its signing. All the previous stipulations, which are contrary to the provisions of this Circular, are hereby annulled.

The refund-requesting dossiers, which have already been completed according to the provisions of the Finance Ministry�s Circular No.25/2000/TT-BTC of March 30, 2000 shall, within 30 days after the effective date of this Circular, continue to be sent to the finance agencies for settlement.

The General Tax Department, the General Customs Department, the State agencies authorized to collect revenues, the Central State Bank, the finance agencies of all levels and the refunded units and individuals shall have to implement and guide their attached units in strictly implementing the provisions of this Circular.

Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported by the concerned agencies to the Finance Ministry for study, guidance, supplement and amendment.

For the Minister of Finance
Vice Minister
PHAM VAN TRONG